What you don't know about allergies can hurt you
Tiger the family cat has been sleeping on your bed for a decade. Now it seems like every morning, you wake up sneezing and wheezing. You know it's the cat. But why is it happening now when it never happened before?
"An allergy may appear to come out of the blue but, in fact, it doesn't. The affected person clearly has a predisposition for it," says
Stanley Lane, MD, chief of the allergy department at Virtua Memorial Hospital.
This can mean having a prior history of allergic reactions like hay fever or eczema or a general family history of allergy. It's also important to know that allergic episodes can exacerbate over time. Dr. Lane says: "Reactions run the gamut from sneezing and localized itching to anaphylaxis, a systemic life-threatening reaction causing the airways and throat to swell shut. Even those who are only having a minor allergic reaction, should see a physician to keep it under control."